


Day 15: Swearth

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2018 [15]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Brothers, Cassetticon Hot Rod, Gen, Holomatter Avatars, The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Issue 43 (IDW)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-14 05:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16487093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: All hands on deck for the Swerve search meansallhands, even the ones that are technically paws. (And maybe Rodimus wants to know what his brother's face would look like as a mech but can you really blame him?)





	Day 15: Swearth

“Still no progress?” Ultra Magnus asked, and Rodimus shook his helm.

“Tailgate spent half his last text telling me I misused ‘hashtag’ and the other half saying they’ve not got any leads yet.” he scowled at the screen, tapping his thumb idly against the frame under the digital keyboard. “I told them to wait for orders.”

“According to First Aid’s-”

“I _know_.” Rodimus gritted out, fingers clenching around the communicator. Swerve was fading, and fast, and it wasn’t like he could just tell their search party to search harder, no matter how badly he wanted to. The life of one of his best friends left on this ship was at stake, but they were only- oh, now there was a thought.

“Oh no.” Ravage muttered from where he was laid under the desk in previously-silent support. “I know that look.”

“As do I.” Magnus frowned at him. “What mad idea have you come up with this time?”

“Bluestreak, Skids, Ring, Tailgate, and Cyclonus haven’t found anything yet, right?” he stood, though he still had to look up a significant amount to meet Magnus’s optics. “We sent them down to the most populated area, that’s way too much for five mechs to canvas efficiently, especially since Cyclonus’s holomatter avatar can’t fly.”

“You want to send more mechs down?” Magnus frowned.

“I want to send _everyone_.” he squared his shoulders and projected as much confidence and determination as he could muster. “Leave a medic or two to watch Swerve’s real body and a skeleton crew to keep the ship running, and everyone else downloads Brainstorm’s insta-avatar program and projects out to help search.”

“We only had the five volunteers, Rodimus.” Magnus crossed his arms. “You can’t order mechs to risk their lives for-”

“For a fellow ‘Bot whose spark is on the verge of going out?” Ravage interjected smoothly, rising to his feet and padding over to stand next to Rodimus, field prickling _protection indignation comfort_ against Rodimus’s own. He rolled his optics and sent back a burst of reassurance. He wasn’t a sparkling, he didn’t need his brother’s protection. Certainly not from his own SIC.

The support was kinda nice though.

“Alright, so we ask instead of ordering.” Rodimus conceded. “But stress that Swerve is in _critical_ condition.”

“And maybe remind them he’s the only one who can get Ten to unlock the bar.” Ravage sniggered. Rodimus resisted the urge to kick him.

“I-” Ultra Magnus paused, visibly turning the idea over in his processor. “I believe that may produce the required response.” he said at length. “I assume you’ll want to head down yourself, Captain?”

Rodimus nodded. “Leading by example and all that.” he flashed Magnus a brilliant smile.

“Who do you want to be kept aboard as running crew?” Magnus pulled out a datapad and stylus, and Rodimus smiled wider as Ravage’s field flickered with satisfaction. What was that human saying? Best brother by a country mile.

“Blaster for sure.” he said without hesitation. The last thing he needed was the overbearing comms officer pulling his usual slag when they were close enough in height for Rodimus to punch him in the face. Satisfying as it’d be, Magnus would chew him out for unprofessional behaviour when they got back, and he’d rather end the mega-cycle on a positive note. “Maybe Megatron?”

“No.” Magnus shook his helm. “I’ll not have Megatron next to unsupervised on this ship.”

“Right, good point.” Rodimus frowned. “Just Blaster and Brainstorm then, the rest of the skeleton crew will be voluntary.”

“Why Brainstorm?” Ravage asked, beating Magnus to the punch.

“He knows how the holomatter thing works better than any of us, so he should be the one keeping an eye on our frames while we’re off searching.”

“I can help.” Ravage volunteered, and Rodimus looked down to frown at his fellow cassette.

“Aww, I was hoping you’d come with me.” he pushed his lower lip out slightly, just shy of what Ultra Magnus would call pouting, and after a few nano-kliks Ravage heaved a sigh and let his helm drop slightly.

“Fine.”

“If you’re bringing Ravage, then Megatron should be with your group as well.” Magnus said, and Rodimus shrugged.

“I’m the captain, if anyone’s stuck keeping an eye on the geezer it should be me anyways.” he said magnanimously. Megatron in holomatter avatar mode would be easy enough to corral, especially with Ravage helping.

\---

“Frag, that stings!” he hissed, rubbing at his arms as his holomatter avatar materialised on a sidewalk. The pain didn’t go away in the slightest, but he gritted his denta and in-vented deeply through his nose. Swerve had to be hurting so much worse, projecting not only himself at this distance but the whole planet as well. Brainstorm had assured him that the far side, near as they could tell, was only half-rendered due to the distance but still. Ouch. He shook himself slightly and looked around, optics scanning for Nautica and Nightbeat. Not who he personally would’ve picked for drop-buddies, but they’d been ready at the same time.

“Captain!” Nautica waved an arm as she pushed through the crowd, her hair an even brighter shade of red than the fringe that hung at the edges of his own vision.

“Good to see you landed safely.” he looked her avatar over and smiled. “Dressed for work, I see.”

“Huh?” she looked down, and her pale cheeks actually changed colour. “Oh, I didn’t even think-”

“He’s just teasing you, Nautica.” Nightbeat chuckled, appearing out of nowhere to sling an arm around her shoulders. “I may not be an expert on organic fashions but uh,” he looked from side to side, gaze conspicuously sweeping over the unanchored avatars milling around them. “I’m _pretty_ sure humans don’t wear four shirts.”

Rodimus felt his cheeks warm and lifted a hand to press to his outermost layer, the real reason he’d spent so long updating his avatar after the first test run. “Hey, it’s two shirts a jacket and a vest.” he huffed, fingers curling in the soft purple-grey fabric of his third layer. The rectangle of embroidery stitched into the jacket sat heavy across his shoulders, safely tucked away under the violently orange vest he’d spent so long constructing.

“Still, not the typical fashion.” Nightbeat grinned, denta startlingly white in his dark face.

“And since when have you know Rod to be _any_ sort of typical?” a familiar voice drawled from behind him, and Rodimus spun to see a completely unfamiliar face. Or, no, not _entirely_ unfamiliar. He looked kinda like an actor from one of the Earth shows Swerve had been playing in the bar last deca-cycle, but with raised... scars? He was pretty sure that was the word for the type of lines that ran in sets of three across the man’s cheeks, angling out from either side of his nose.

“ _Ravage?!_ ” his optics flew as wide as they could go as he took in his brother’s avatar. Dark skin like Nightbeat’s, red eyes with a distinctly inhuman pupil, a dark tank top showing off the Decepticon logo carved into his muscled shoulder. The shirt tucked into baggy black camouflage pants with lots of pockets, which were held up by a metallic grey belt and tucked into matching grey army boots. He also had a really cool necklace made of wide-set silver spikes on a stiff cord, and Rodimus made a mental note to bug his brother for the specs on that later. It’d be easier to just recolour it gold to match his outfit than to remake the whole thing from memory.

“How’s it feel to be on two legs instead of four?” Nightbeat asked, and Ravage lifted a hand to flex his fingers. The nails were filed to glinting points and painted shimmery black, a clear echo of his claws.

“Strange.” Ravage said after a few nano-kliks of silence. “Nice to be taller than someone for once, though.” he smirked, and Rodimus let out a squawk of outrage.

“How did that even happen?” he complained, gesturing at his brother’s avatar, which stood a full head taller than his own.

“Guess I just listened more often when Soundwave told me to be the bigger mech in an argument.” Ravage smirked. Rodimus slugged him in the shoulder.

“Oh, slag, I gotta call Bluestreak.” he remembered belatedly, and after a few nano-kliks of patting down his avatar found the pocket with his modified communicator in it. He glanced at Ravage as the line dialed and rang, and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Once Cyclonus’s team was appraised of the situation, he was totally giving his brother a hug. Sure holomatter avatars dulled physical sensations, and the distance dulled them even more, but by Primus it wasn’t every meta-cycle his brother was actually able to hug him _back_.

**Author's Note:**

> If only Swearth had happened like, a year later on the timeline Rodimus would've recognised Ravage's holomatter avatar as Chadwick Boseman, complete with Black Panther necklace. (because really, can u imagine Ravage's human form looking any other way?)


End file.
